Killer Zombie Fungus: What is Cordyceps?

#Cordyceps #Parasitic #Fungus

What is Cordyceps? A mysterious parasitic fungus that takes control of it's host and turns them into a weapon, targeted against their own kind. Is this mushroom capable of mind control, or something even more sinister?

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I'll be covering the life cycle of cordyceps, how it takes control of an insect and releases it's spores, the possible medicinal benefits of cordyceps & some of the more interesting species of it, some interesting pieces of research related to the fungus, and it's portrayal in science fiction as a possible cause for... the end of the world.

In this video I'll only be discussing Ophiocordyceps, the species of cordyceps that affects ants and other insects, such as cordyceps unilateralis, sinesis, robertsii and nutans. You won't be learning about cordyceps militaris here, which affects rice.

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Timestamps:
00:00 - Introduction to Cordyceps
00:50 - Cordyceps Unilateralis (Ants) and How Cordyceps Works
03:43 - The Fungal Hyper-parasite That Kills Cordyceps
04:14 - Other Interesting Species of Cordyceps
05:39 - Possible Medicinal Benefits / Research & Cordyceps Supplements
06:24 - Yu Matsuura and The Cicada Cordyceps Story
07:14 - Paul Stamets, a brief overview his research on fungi, cordyceps & mycelium networks
07:59 - Cordyceps in entertainment such as The Last of Us.
09:00 - Conclusion
Sources:
All video footage is mine to use and acquired legitimately from Video Blocks.
Article on Yu Matsuura's Cicada Cordyceps research: https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/06/how-to-tame-a-zombie-fungus/562544/
More about Paul Stamets: https://fungi.com/pages/about-us
Cordyceps Wikipedia Page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cordyceps
Ophiocordyceps Unilateralis Wikipedia Page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ophiocordyceps_unilateralis
Cordyceps article on new research showing that cordyceps leaves the brain of the insect intact: https://www.inverse.com/article/38278-zombie-cordyceps-fungus-ant-brains
Music:
All music is from the Youtube Audio Library.
Dark Fog by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1300031
Artist: http://incompetech.com/

Echoes of Time by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1300029
Artist: http://incompetech.com/

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Видео Killer Zombie Fungus: What is Cordyceps? канала Wiser